The Commissioner's Report

(archived)

2009 in review: Federal Stimulus

As 2009 has
officially come to a close,
I'd like to take this time to
wish everyone a Happy New
Year. 2009 brought many
challenges and opportunities to
the New Jersey Department
of Transportation (NJDOT)
but with outstanding teamwork
we achieved a great deal
on behalf of the people
of the State of New Jersey.

As the first
weeks of 2010 progress,
I wanted to take the opportunity over the new few days to
highlight some of our achievements
in 2009.

2009 offered
us a historic opportunity on February 17, when President
Obama signed into law the
American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act (ARRA). This economic
stimulus package brought
more than $1 billion for
critical improvements for
New Jersey's transportation
infrastructure, including
almost $652 million for
highways and bridges and
$424 million for transit
improvements across the
state.

NJDOT is
utilizing nearly $469 million
for projects to make improvements
on the state highway system.
We advanced 40 projects
- 30 construction projects,
nine design projects and
one Right of Way acquisition
for a critical South Jersey
project. Through a true
team effort, the Department
awarded all 30 construction
projects by August 15 and
all of these construction
projects have now advanced
to construction. Final
design work for nine projects
is also being accelerated
to allow the construction
of these projects to begin
sooner than originally
planned and the advancement
of Right of Way purchase
for a critical South Jersey
congestion relief project
has also be initiated.

Utilizing
the ARRA funding will allow
NJDOT to make
significant improvements
to our transportation system.
The 30 construction projects
will allow the Department
to:

Address 23 structurally
deficient bridges;

Replace two deficient
moveable bridges on Route
52;

Preserve 40 bridge
decks;

Paint and provide for
steel repairs to 45 interstate
highway bridges along
three corridors;

Paint and provide for
steel repairs for two
moveable bridges;

Resurfacing of 219
lane miles of deficient
pavement;

Improvements for five
priority drainage locations;
and

Construction of new
median guide rails on
18.6 miles at various
accident cluster locations

Due to careful planning
and a favorable bid environment,
the Department will have
ARRA funds available to
advance four additional
construction projects sooner
than anticipated. We received
approval from the State
Legislative Joint Budget
Oversight Committee in
early December to advance
these four additional construction
projects utilizing ARRA
funding. We are now moving
forward to get these projects
to construction as quickly
as possible.

We also made sure that
the impacts of the federal
stimulus would benefit
transportation infrastructure
for our counties and municipalities.
Therefore, $164 million
was sub allocated to New
Jersey's three Metropolitan
Planning Organizations
(MPOs) to identify and
select eligible projects.
It has truly been a cooperative
effort between NJDOT, the
MPOs and the county and
municipal recipients of
ARRA funds to advance these
projects. There are 86
local ARRA projects statewide
being funded through the
MPO sub allocation.

We also continue to advance
the $19.5 million in ARRA
funding that we received
for the Transportation
Enhancement program.

There is still work to
be done and we must remain
diligent as we continue
to meet the requirements
and deadlines of the Recovery
Act.

I am proud of the work
that this Department has
done to improve our critical
transportation infrastructure
through ARRA and cooperative
working relationships we
have had with our partners
at the Federal Highway
Administration, the state's
three MPOs and also the
local recipients.

I would also
like to thank everyone
at NJDOT who worked so
diligently to ensure the
funding was in place, those
who accelerated the process
and those who will see
the projects to completion
and eventual success.